The Mercury was completely redesigned for 1952, along with other Ford vehicles, with the brand moving away from the rounded form of previous years, which was much-beloved by lead-sled custom builders.
The new look was taller and squarer, and more in line with modern taste as the chrome-bedecked cars of the ‘50s got under way. The Monterey became its own top-drawer model, with premium trim and features.
The Pick of the Day is a highly attractive 1952 Mercury Monterey convertible in red with a black-and-red interior, powered by the correct 255cid, 125-horsepower flathead V8 linked with a 3-speed manual transmission and overdrive.
The Mercury has had “limited ownership” during the past 35 years, according to the Canton, Ohio, dealer advertising the convertible on ClassicCars.com. Presumably, that means it’s been in the hands of just a few people during that time
While we had the Schroll 32 Coupe at the Wheels of Time Jamboree there was an open space in the shop. The 1939 Mercury has been sitting in storage until we had some free time and space, but starting to free up the engine should be an easy job. Boy did we under estimate how stuck this engine is
In the early 1950s came a particular style of hardtop design favored by US automakers, a rounded roofline that flowed into the C-pillars in a graceful curve. This is the roofline seen on the Pick of the Day, a 1951 Ford Victoria 2-door hardtop that appears to have been restored to original.
In an appealing shade of pale green with an ivory top, the Ford packs a classic flathead V8 that makes 100 horsepower and is shifted by a 3-on-the-tree manual transmission.
“This ‘51 2-door Victoria is a real time machine for those who remember these years fondly,” says the Orlando, Florida, dealer advertising the Ford on ClassicCars.com. “The swooping body lines combined with whitewall tires and polished hub caps really give the car an eye-catching stance.
“The interior is finished in a dark and light green combo, and the dash and panels will make it feel like a different time. With the bench seat, there is plenty of room for cuddling at the drive-in.”
Still looking great after an apparently older restoration, the Ford has an award-winning claim to fame, the dealer says.
“As shown on the bumper plaque, this vehicle was the 2003 national first-prize winner of the Antique Automobile Club of America!” the ad notes, although it in unclear how or where the AACA senior award was won.
The period options on this Ford include an AM radio, whitewall tires, what look like the correct full hubcaps, fender skirts and lots of chrome details.
Among the many galleries in Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed is one that focuses on all the companies that produced parts to enhance the performance of Henry Ford’s Model T engine. Frontenac was the Chevrolet brothers company after they sold the rights to their family name to Chevrolet | Larry Edsall photos
In the early 1940s, a policeman showed up at the Smith family home in Lincoln, Nebraska, with 12-year-old D. William Smith in tow. Like other youngsters, he had used an old gas-powered Maytag washing machine engine to power a go-kart. Problem was, he’d been driving it down one of the town’s main streets.
From an early age, D. William Smith, to become better known as “Speedy” Bill, had a need for speed. He tinkered with cars, raced them and motorcycles as well, yet went to Nebraska Wesleyan University and graduated with a degree in education.
But instead of teaching, he borrowed $300 from his fiancé, Joyce — who later would insist that he never officially repaid that loan — and opened a speed shop called Speedway Motors in a 20×20-foot building on Lincoln’s main street, US Route 6/O Street.
The museum is about preserving American racing history, When the Smiths acquired the garage in which A.J. Watson built his Indy cars, they wanted its display to be so accurate that they used an overhead camera to record all the oil stains on the floor of Watson’s garage so they could be copied in the museum’s display
Fast forward a few decades and the Smiths with their four sons grew Speedway Motors into a major supplier of automotive speed equipment that occupies a half-million square-foot warehouse and headquarters on a 46-acre Lincoln campus just off O Street that since 1992 has included the Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed.
The museum is a separate building just across the parking lot that fills three stores while preserving race cars, engines and historic performance accessories. For example, there’s a large area devoted to Henry Ford’s Model T, and to the parts from Frontenac, Rajo, Riley, Roof and others that, shall we say, accelerated the car’s capabilities.
Ditto the Flathead Ford V8, with one wall covered by every cylinder head ever created to enhance that engine’s performance, including some experimental models that Ford sold to the museum by mistake and then asked for their return, which Speedway Motors politely declined.
As we learned in our flathead Ford V8 story here: www.torqtalk.com/home/ford-flathead-the-first-performance-v-8, the Ford V8 was not initially a performer. Out of the crate in 1932 the 221 ci produced only 65 bhp and even by the end of its life in 1953 the 239 ci ‘flattie’ only produced 110. Note: The ’53 255 ci Mercury did make 125 bhp—still no big deal.
To make the Model A/B four bangers go faster several outfits had produced overhead valve (ohv) conversions it seemed obvious therefore to build something similar for the V-8. Enter brothers Zora and Yura Arkus-Duntov and the Ardun Mechanical Corp., New York. By 1945, their mainstay military contracts were dwindling and Zora approached Ford about an ohv conversion for the V-8 that over heated and was under powered. Ford showed no interest and so Zora went ahead anyway buying a couple of V-8s and designing his own heads with the help of engineer George Kudasch.
Rather than have the middle pair of exhaust ports asthmatically ‘siamesed’ into one, the Ardun, a contraction of ARkus-DUNtov, breathed better through four equally spaced ports. It was also compatible with the Ford block and valvetrain, used the stock cam, and had hemispherical combustion chambers and large intake valves for improved performance. Interestingly, the Ardun had short intake rockers and long exhaust rockers and was similar to the 1951 Chrysler Hemi but preceded it by four years when it was introduced in 1947.
The downside was trifold: The assembly was 12-inches wider than stock, it weighed an additional 60 lb and it wasn’t cheap being cast from heat-treated, 355-T6 Alcoa aluminum alloy. However, the heads produced between 25- and 60-percent more power depending on tuning—the original had but a single carb. According to Zora, “I had about 230 hp on gasoline by 1949.”
Zora might have been a tad optimistic with his figures. After almost two years and more than 1,000 hours of testing on his own GE dyno, the Ardun-headed engine put out only 160 bhp. ‘Build it and they will come’ was Zora’s philosophy and he attempted to market complete engines and conversions. A ‘racing’ version was said to produce 200 bhp at 5,500 rpm. The conversion sold for a hefty $500 and installation took six skilled hours. Two thousand inquiries resulted from a feature in Popular Mechanics but few sales materialized.
The time has finally come to take the engine for the 1933 Ford 3 Window Coupe up to Ronnie “Roadster” San Giovanni, the master of the Ardun OHV conversion.
Ron built his first Ardun back in the early 1980’s and has been hooked ever since. His blue 1932 Ford Roadster with a blown Ardun has been cross country twice and around 100k miles.
Ron is a wealth of knowledge about hot rods, local Connecticut racing history and of course flatheads. Matt spent the better part of the day talking with Ron about his set of heads, and his large Italmeccanica blower that Ron has surprisingly never seen before!
We could have put together a 4 hour video with Ron and wife talking about every amazing piece of history they have in their shop and all the amazing engines Ron has built. We can’t wait to return to pick up the engine and spend more time with Ron!!
Spring may have just arrived, but at least one vehicle going up for auction at Bonhams’s next sale may have you longing for winter’s return.
Impossible, you say. Wait until you check out the 80-year-old Bombardier B-7snowmobile. Set to hit the block late next month at the auction house’s Amelia Island auction, the restored snow cruiser will have even the most cold-averse among us wishing for a thick snow fall so they can take it out for a spin.
Although the B-7 was born out of a family tragedy—inventor Joseph-Armand Bombardier’s young son died during the winter because no vehicle could safely transport him through the snow—it’s also a dazzling creation. The vehicle, which was referred to at the time as a “snow coach,” looks like an old-fashion family wagon with skis and tank treads in place of its wheels, so that it can “float over the snow.” After being introduced in 1935, the vehicle proved to be a hit, and by the end of the decade, the Canadian company had built more than 100 examples.
There is no way we can count all the weird machines we’ve seen cooked up by more or less prominent garages across America over the years. Yet we’re pretty certain we’re going to remember this thing here, going forward.
What you’re looking at is officially titled 1938 Indian V8-60 Flathead, and it’s an yet unfinished project that could have just as well been named Ford, or Porsche, or Harley-Davidson. That’s because each of these companies contributed in one way or another to this thing coming together.
Indian is responsible for the frame, with a 1938 Indian Chief as a starting point. It was bred and welded with 1.25- and 1-inch tubing and paired with a Chief front end. The thusly-modified frame was needed because it had to accommodate the Ford V8 engine its builder saw fit to gift the bike with.
The V8 is of the flathead variety the Blue Oval had in its portfolio for a couple of decades between 1932 and 1953, which came with a power rating of 60 horsepower—this bike’s name is beginning to make sense now, right?
The engine used on this two-wheeler is a 1937 model year, packs a Stromberg carburetor, and is tied to a Harley-Davidson transmission and a clutch from the same bike maker.
Two fuel tanks, made to resemble pre-war Indian pieces, are located left and right of the frame, and we’re told they never got the taste of fuel in them. An Indian solo seat dangles precariously over the massive engine, there are 1946 controls on the handlebars, and even a Porsche 12-volt generator in there (not hooked up to anything yet).
Today’s AutoHunter Spotlight is on a 1934 Ford Standard 5-Window Coupe purchased by the seller’s grandfather from the original owner’s widow in 1963. It underwent a body-off restoration completed in 2012 and is a multiple AACA winner from years 2013 through 2018.
The all-steel body is finished in Dearborn Blue and black paint and features a single driver-side mirror, hood louvers, front and rear chrome bumpers and a color-matching spare tire cover that houses a full-size spare.
New angora trims the bench seat and door panels.
Powering the Ford is the original 221cid 21-stud Flathead V8 mated to a 3-speed manual gearbox.
The odometer shows 36,435 miles, which the seller notes only a few of those were added since the restoration.
A classic, elegant cat that shows sophistication and yet has a mean streak underneath the hood of the car.
Ford is a car brand that has been around for a very long time. The Ford Model B range changed the look and feel over the years. We will be taking a look at the history behind this classic car as well as how it turned into the iconic 1932 Ford Model B which was not a good seller back in the day but nowadays, people cannot get enough of it.
The Ford Model B is a better version than the Model A. They took everything that was right with the Model A, removed all the problems, and thought it would be a good idea to add in a 4 cylinder engine which was a first for Ford.
Ford Motor Company produced two different models with the Model B name, Ford Model B 1904 and Ford Model B 1932.
In 1904, Ford introduced the upscale touring car. It had polished wood and brass trimming. It was built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant. It was Ford’s first car to use the front-engine layout that had a large 24 horsepower 4-cylinder engine positioned at the front of the car behind a conventional radiator.
It was a 2-speed transmission and the engine was a 283.5CID.
It was priced at $ 2 000 which is equivalent to about $ 57 000.00 today. It was a high-end car that was produced for three years. The sales of the car were slow due to the price of the car and it was replaced by the derivative model K in 1906 which was cheaper for the consumer.
